It was not the rookies who stole the show, but Drew Timme and Tosan Evbuomwan.
Midway through the third quarter of the Brooklyn Nets’ Las Vegas Summer League opener, Erik Reynolds II picked up a jump ball, turned, and scored a wide open layup for the Nets.
Just one problem: He’s on the Oklahoma City Thunder…
lmfao Erik Reynolds scores on the wrong basket, with Jordi on the broadcast! Holy summer league
“We gotta say thanks” pic.twitter.com/2VA0KK3amE
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) July 10, 2025
Welcome to Summer League, folks.
Though the Brooklyn Nets are coming off their most consequential NBA Draft in well over a decade, having made five first-round picks, it’s hard to draw any solid conclusions from a week or two in Vegas. Much less one game in which players are scoring the ball on the wrong basket and throwing it off their brand-new teammates’ faces…
alright this is a little on the nose pic.twitter.com/BF2R6jTANt
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) July 10, 2025
That was one of the best plays Danny Wolf made all game, to be fair. Just a shame Timme wasn’t looking. Wolf did not make a field goal, scoring four points on free-throws and turning it over four times. It was rough.
As for Egor Dëmin, he largely did cardio in this one, scoring 8/4/0 in 23 minutes. But hey, his two field goals were two deep threes, as he shot 2-of-5 from range…
Egor Dëmin deep catch-and-shoot, schedule the parade pic.twitter.com/eBDhaQEIp0
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) July 10, 2025
Ben Saraf played 16 minutes off the bench and had a nice and-1 take to the rim, finishing with 3/1/2. The other 15:50 he played was less than memorable, though much of that was the whistle-fest that depressed the energy of Thomas & Mack Center to a murmur.
With Drake Powell missing Summer League due to knee tendinopathy, the most promising rookie on Thursday afternoon was Nolan Traoré, Brooklyn’s #19 pick. Over 25 minutes, he put up 13/3/3, including one catch-and-shoot three and a bunch of blinding takes into the paint. He indeed blends ball-handling and speed at a level that seems NBA-caliber…
Nolan Traore with a smooth drive and finish for his first bucket as a Net. pic.twitter.com/hwbVxqj4XU
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) July 10, 2025
But for Nets fans expecting Thursday’s contest to be the opening salvo to a fresh-faced era, they got a whole lot of Drew Timme, Tyson Etienne, and Tosan Evbuomwan instead.
All three appeared for both Long Island and Brooklyn last season, and their seniority status on this Summer League roster was evident. Evbuomwan went to work often in the first half, trying to take defenders off the dribble and in the post, though in a pass-first, offensively challenged lineup, he didn’t have a ton of choices.
By the end of the night, with the Nets consistently trailing by a few possessions, they resorted to Drew Timme, who’s playing on a non-guaranteed contract, in hopes of a win. The soon-to-be 25-year-old led the squad with 30 minutes, and he scored 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, turning most late-game possessions into post-work. Hey, it really was Brooklyn’s best chance.
It wasn’t enough, though. The Nets put together an 11-0 run in the third quarter, but outside of that, OKC controlled the game.
But you don’t care about the final score, and neither do I. TJ Bamba, Bronx native shot 0-of-7, but the other UDFA Brooklyn brought to Vegas, Grant Nelson, scored 5 points in 14 minutes, including a 3-pointer and this big dunk…
Grant Nelson drive and HEYYY pic.twitter.com/zGiZkjxdTn
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) July 10, 2025
After the game, Demin and SL coach Steve Hetzel spoke to the media on hand. Most interestingly, Demin said he shouldn’t have called himself a point guard…
Egor Demin on his position in the NBA:
“I got a little too deep into calling myself a point guard. Now, I prefer to say I’m a playmaker… Nowadays… there are playmakers on the court who are not point guards, and that’s where I see myself. I want to be all over the court.” pic.twitter.com/XYVEDARR62
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) July 11, 2025
And after ESPN2 pronounced his name the Russian way all game, Demin was (again) asked how we should all say his five-letter (with umlaut) moniker….
Egor Demin clears up the confusion about how to correctly pronounce his name:
YAY-GOR DYOH-MIN
“That’s actually my fault, because I trapped everybody into a mistake. Because when I just got to America, I thought it would be too hard to pronounce.” pic.twitter.com/END4UjHfN7
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) July 11, 2025
As for Hetzel, he was asked to explain how come so many point guards…
Steve Hetzel on whether the Nets’ rookie ball-handlers can co-exist long-term:
“This is the way our roster is constructed. The league is now multiple ball-handlers, multiple attackers. If you look at the team that just won the championship, they’ve got Jalen Williams and Shai… pic.twitter.com/2FVti4H7JU
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) July 11, 2025
In another post-game note, Traore told media that he rolled his ankle in the first quarter but was able to play through it the rest of the way.
The Brooklyn Nets have much to work on for their next game, which will come after two days off. In order to get a win, or at least make the basketball more enjoyable, they’ll have to turn it over fewer than 21 times and commit fewer than 25 fouls.
In order to appease the fans, they’ll have to play the rookies more, or at least have them shoot more than the journeymen. I suspect this won’t be the last time I type that sentence.
Final Score: Oklahoma City Thunder 90, Brooklyn Nets 81
Next Up
Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images
The Brooklyn Nets will take on the Washington Wizards in game two of the Las Vegas Summer League experience. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday evening.